Thread: 6.5 GM V8 Diesels

All that I can offer is that my cousin is about to transplant a 6.3 GMC into his County coupled to a SIII 4 speed in preference to the County's 5 speed on the basis that the 4 speed is stronger. Time and right foot pressure will tell.

There was an article in one of the 4WD mags a couple of years ago about a guy in WA who did that conversion. There was a list of things that had to be modified or replaced. From memory these included sump, suspension..... There's an old Land Rover Guru in Melb I saw a couple of years back at a swapmeet. He had one in his 130. He was pleased with it, he ran an auto and mentioned that there were some less than optimal conversions available when he was researching. He advised against the turbo version due to complexity.

I drove the GMC 6.8 litre turbo diesel at work (ambulance) and they go really well, even hauling 4,000kg of ambulance around. However I remember seeing a fuel pump at the mechanics one day. He explained the motor had electonic fuel management. Like the TD5 there is no accelerator cable, the accelerator moves a potentiometer which relays an electronic signal to the fuel pump and the pump delivers a proportionate amount of fuel depending on speed and engine data. Well the electronic gizmo on the fuel pump failed and it was integral to the pump. Hence a total replacement cost of $9,000 for the sake of an electronics failure.

The SII gearboxes were stronger than the SIII (but no synchro). The strongest manual gearbox would be an early RR or Stage 1 SIII 4 speed. However I think only an auto should go behind that motor.

doesn't gaz or somebody here have one of those in their defender??

I would only use the 4speed lt95 that has been modded with the taper roller bearing kit that the army uses.

Hi Folks,
As Phoenix mentioned i have got a 6.2L chevy in my 88 Rangie. If you go to the members ride you can view some more details and photos on the conversion. I do like the extra grunt compared to the 300TDI i have in my defender. No comparison at all, but is is not as econimical. The LT95 is the strongest landrover box as Lewy110 mentioned but the chev needs an overdrive if you are sitting on the freeway. Ideally 2000 rpm/110K's. I am using the ZF four speed auto but fourth gear locks up at 85's so around town it is a pain in the ass. As soon as i get the wife another car i am going to put a new venture five speed in (NV4500). If considering an auto conversion a Chev T700 box would be better than the ZF but not quite sure which model. I am going to put one in my defender ute but the later version, 6.6L 300hp but that is going to be an expensive exercise.

Cheers,Gaz

I'm jealous already.

Hey Vlad,
Seeing you live in Brisbane drop into Linquip up there with a heap of folding stuff and drive out with a V8 diesel in it [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img] Then you have bragging rights cause no one else on this web site has got one in a defender yet as far as i know. My defender is going to be another 12 -18 months before it gets a heart transplant.

Gaz

I remember reading about a bloke in WA who had one fitted to his defender.

He kept the r380 behind it aswell. Talk about a time bomb.

I wonder how long it lasted?